Coal and biomass

Following our investment of £240m to install flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) equipment at our 2,000MW Fiddler’s Ferry power station in Cheshire and half of the capacity at our 2,000MW Ferrybridge power station in South Yorkshire, we can now operate in line with the limits on sulphur dioxide emissions contained in the Large Combustion Plan Directive (LCPD).

The FGD equipment means the stations can use higher-sulphur coal mined in the UK. As a result, SSE has entered into an agreement with UK Coal for 3.5 million tonnes of deep and surface-mined coal from Great Britain.

SSE's plant at Slough has a current generating capacity of 80MW and is the UK's largest dedicated biomass facility. We also plan to introduce a multi-fuel combined heat and power facility at Ferrybridge which will use a range of fuel sources. These could include biomass, waste-derived fuels and wood products to generate around 90MW of electricity and provide heat to the Ferrybridge site.

In August 2009, SSE acquired Uskmouth Power Company Limited. Uskmouth comprises three independent power generating units, each with 121MW of capacity. Following the acquisition, around 100 people employed at the station joined SSE.